Rio Olympians given the preference for Khel Ratna.
The prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award will be conferred on Rio Olympians PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmakar and Jitu Rai.
Sakshi became the fourth Indian woman athlete to win an Olympic medal after Karnam Malleshwari, Mary Kom and Saina Nehwal.
After going down 2-9 against Russia's Valeriia Koblova in the quarter-finals, Sakshi received another chance at a medal via repechage and made full use of the second life by outplaying Mongolian wrestler Orkhon Purevdorj 12-3 to advance to the bronze-medal match.
She also became the fourth Indian wrestler to win a medal in Olympics after Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt.
Also, shuttler Sindhu who became the first Indian woman to win a silver medal in Olympics was automatically chosen for the Khel Ratna as per government's policy which bestows the highest sporting honour of the country on athletes who win medals in Olympics.
Woman gymnast Karmakar, who created history by entering the vault final at the Rio Olympics before finishing fourth, and ace shooter Rai were earlier recommended for Khel Ratna Award by the selection panel appointed by the Sports Ministry.
Karmakar got the nod of the 12-member committee, which on the basis of her stupendous performance in Rio although the deadline for sending in the recommendation to the Sports Ministry was already over.
The 23-year-old Tripura-born gymnast became an overnight sensation after she finished fourth in the women's vault final on August 14, missing the the bronze by a mere 0.150 points. She had won bronze medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Jitu, on the other hand, was ranked third in the world in the men's 10m air pistol. He was one of two Indian shooters to make the final of their respective events in Rio, the other being Abhinav Bindra.
The 28-year-old Rai entered the final of the men's 10m air pistol before ending up eighth but could not advance to the same stage in the 50m pistol, his pet event, in the Rio Games.
This year, Rai has won the silver medal in the 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan and the gold medal at the ISSF World Cup in Bangkok in 50m pistol. He was the first shooter to qualify for Rio Games after winning a silver medal at the World Championships in Spain in 2014.
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